Shocker: Rooney too 'old' for all-out attack

England frontman Wayne Rooney may have to settle for midfield role if he intends prolonging his career at Manchester United.

Although he wears the No.10 shirt for club and country, Rooney is under pressure to "reinvent" himself as he approaches a decade in the international game.

Manchester United legend Gary Neville no less has challenged the England striker he would have to accept that he needs to "improve" in order to face "the next challenge in his career".

In an interview with BBC Sport on the eve of England's World Cup qualifier against Poland, Neville, one of Roy Hodgson's coaches, said that Rooney could still have his best years in the game ahead of him as he approaches his 27th birthday in a week's time.

Rooney headed England's goal via his shoulder but also missed a golden opportunity to add another with just over 20 minutes remaining when he was set up by United team mate Danny Welbeck on his left foot from close range.

Neville was perhaps echoing what is going through United boss Sir Alex Ferguson's mind being saddled with the luxury of having to choose from the likes of Robin Van Persie, Shinji Kagawa, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck.

Ferguson used Rooney in midfield against Newcastle United in the Premier League and Cluj in the Champions League this season.

Neville said: "At the age of 26, you always have to think that there's more to come. You can't get to the age of 26 and think 'My best years have gone'. He has now to challenge himself. That's the challenge that always exists when you play for Manchester United and England, at the highest level of football, to keep reinventing yourself. He has got great examples of players who have continued to do that in Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, how they have adapted their games.

"Ryan Giggs has gone from a flying out-and-out left winger to someone who now plays off the front, inside left, central midfield. Paul Scholes was a goalscoring midfielder, an off-the-front No 10 player, when he first started playing as a 16-year-old. Now he's a holding midfield player who controls the game.

"You have to adapt. Wayne Rooney is still a centre-forward, but he'll adapt over this next 10 years to continue to become someone who's thought of in that same way as those two players. We need to see Wayne Rooney improve, Wayne Rooney needs to see himself improve and in the last few weeks, coming back from that injury, I've seen a lean, fit, hungry Wayne Rooney.

"He looks like he is up for the next challenge in his career where he has got people like Robin Van Persie, Shinji Kagawa, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck around him.

"He has got a huge challenge around him just to maintain his position at Manchester United but he looks like he is really up for it."

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